By Gabriel Princewill-
The Football Association must confront racism in society, if it is to exterminate racism from football, following racial abuse, against the penalty takers who missed their penalties in the crucial euro finals.
The torrent of racial abuse levied against the three black players-Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, and Jadon Sancho, after they missed their respective penalty kicks in the deciding finals of this year’s Euro tournament, was awful, but not shocking, given the spate of racial abuse that has accompanied football matches in the Uk of late.
Yet, the football Association misguidedly believes it can eradicate racism from football, whilst racially discriminatory attitudes remain at large in many parts of society. Such an outlook is highly misconceived , and requires more proactive action if it is to effectively address racism. It goes without saying that the majority of outrageous racists in football suffer from serious mental health issues, are on drugs, and come from dysfunctional homes. The few amongst from better backgrounds are simply demented individuals going with the flow of bad influence.
The idea of compartmentalizing the fight against racism to football, whilst racism extends beyond the sport, demonstrates a lack of understanding of the root cause of racism as being entrenched in poor societal values. The football association has to do more to make racists uncomfortable to contaminate the sport. It would involve strong collaborative efforts with social media giants and the government to establish initiatives that influence the ideologies of the regular man, and even existing racists.
The fact the shameful level of racism we have seen in football has gone on for years is all the confirmation we need to show that the efforts to significantly reduce or eliminate racism in football has not been sufficient.
Racism
Football chiefs will do well to be vocal when racism is highlighted in society, and connect the reason for their intervention to the spill over effects racism has on football. When Daily Telegraph journalist Julie Churchill expressed racism against Meghan Markle, by suggesting Prince Harry and Meghan Markle should have called their child Georgina Floydina instead of Lilibet, the voices of representatives of the Football Association condemning the unscrupulous journalist for her role in perpetuating racially charged attitudes in society would not have gone amiss.
When in 2019, Danny Baker published a racist caricature of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s baby, Archie, there was much uproar, but nothing officially from the FA raising alarm about how this sort of behaviour can spill over to football. Instead, we had a well known football pundit, Gary Lineka openly supporting Danny Baker, invariably putting allegiance before principle. Lineka- an accomplished England player in the 90’s- was rightly criticized for his indiscretion, which failed to take account of the wider implications of his ill advised stance.
Racist football fans are emboldened by the racism they see unchecked in society, one of the reasons collective action to counteract racism in society is imperative. It will take a well sustained coordinated action from various bodies to substantially weaken the shameful display of racism in society.
On Wednesday, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the Uk government is committed to kicking racism out of the country, as he sought to defend Home Secretary Priti Patel, after she was criticized heavily for failing to support footballers taking the knee before matches in the fight to combat racism.
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Julie Churchill was sacked from Telegraph over racism Image:twitter
Patel’s comments were a misjudgment blinded by the motive of appealing to those who disapprove of the symbolic connotation behind the idea of taking the knee. More relevant is the fact that symbolic expressions in the fight against racism does not suffice in its aim of bringing about tangible change.
The fight against racism through the taking of the knee sends an important message to racists, at least from a symbolic perspective. However, it is not enough. The initiative, as positive as it actually is, was conceivably inspired by a drive to protect their club of heavily overpaid football players(including the black players), from experiencing racism while they are doing their job as footballers.
Advertising Campaigns
The highly resourced football association should consider running campaigns for more stringent laws to be imposed on those found guilty of racism in the courts. At the moment those found guilty of explicit racism are given mild suspended sentences, or mild fines that are not always pursued. The imposition of football bans against racists will not on its effectively address the problem.
The FA could also preside over advertising campaigns to highlight the idiocy of racism, and enlighten the public about the fundamental equality of all humans of different races, including wider recommendations for racial equality to be taught and emphasized in PE lessons in schools, with a system to oversee it.
There are no shortage of of innovatively strident measures the FA could undertake to battle racism, but the appetite to do those things simply isn’t there. That lack of appetite is synonymous to a lack of apathy to confront a problem which has unfortunately pervaded many sections of society for decades without serious opposition from the world of football.
Until the Football Association is prepared to take the relevant steps to tackle racism, its limited initiative to confront racism by taking the knee before matches could be at best symbolic, and at worst, pretentious. Pretentious, not in the sense that there isn’t a genuine drive to kick racism out of football, but that it would be very naive to think racism can be properly dealt with in football to the exclusion of its wider manifestations in society.
A root and branch approach to dealing with racism will require a multi-dimensional process both the imposition of strict punitive measures for explicit racism, coupled with wider strategies of communication and education of the public about race related issues.
A serious disease calls for a serious remedy- anything less, in the form of words, amounts to mere rhetoric, which makes mockery of the scale of the problem among those with skewed views of reality.